General Articles: Survivor Guy: New Eden - Week One

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Eve Online Survivor Guy. I am taking on the wilds of New Eden, once I'm out there I will have to initiate survival and it won't be easy. I don't have any experience with this game and the learning curve for me will come swift and steady. I don't want to over dramatize this but a mistake out here could prove fatal. This is Eve Online, a landscape of beautiful exploration, dangerous encounters and a wealth of opportunity. Every day new comers to the game become lost and are forced to survive, I am such a person and I have neither aid nor knowledge to help me progress; I simply have my wits. My mission is simple: I have to survive for the next eight weeks in Eve Online.

The playing environment of Eve Online consists of more than 5000 star systems as well as 2500 randomly accessible wormhole systems. It is a rugged and treacherous landscape only tamed by pioneers and the most hardened of gamers. If approached with logical apprehension and intelligence- reward can be bestowed. If approached however with confidence and over-ambition- your only prize is death. I need to combine the advice given to me by the community as well as my natural survival instincts to endure my tenure Eve Online.

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The game is new to me and the mechanics are unknown. If I show due diligence and attention I should discover and learn Eve Online without problem or incident. If I refuse to take heed of the lessons bestowed upon me however, I will fail in my quest of survival. It will take me a while to work out a relationship with the game but if I stay on top of things I will succeed.

Week One: First Steps

After completing character creation and the tutorials on offer I had to settle myself into a Space Station of which I could use as a base of operations. I chose the first station I came across in the beginner galaxy and while for the moment it was a sufficient shelter I knew that I could not completely commit myself to it. A quick sweep of the galaxy revealed that it offered limited resources and opportunity for missions. As it simply served the new comers of the game I knew that I would have to move on quickly if I wished to progress and after completing a dozen or so missions I gathered my meager possessions and left looking for somewhere more central to my goals and offering of further possibilities.

Key to survival is knowledge of your capabilities and the ability to keep an eye out for future progression. Choosing the right space station to utilize as a base of operations is essential. You are going to need somewhere rich in opportunities for missions vital for your profession; somewhere within close distance to an asteroid field rich with minerals and low in population and probably most importantly, somewhere central to trade of skills and equipment. The latter point is important to survival as you will want to avoid long hauls of travel as it is both time consuming and, especially when new to the game, difficult to find your way back to your base.

Choosing the right skills is very important to the future of your experience in the game. While the game is essentially classless, the choices you make towards either industry or combat will define you later. Deciding a career path early on will help you gather a clear understanding and will set out a clear path of progression for you to easily follow. While I harbor ambitions of becoming a combat pilot, right now in the beginning steps of the game, the most important factor is gaining some credits so equipment and skill manuals can be purchased. Combat is not something to be approached lightly and it will be necessary to spend a handful of hours mining and allowing skills to tick over and complete.

Eve Online is career driven and sooner or later you will have to decide which profession you will stick to. My first experiences will obviously not influence my decision in the wider sense but it will leave me with a certain inclination toward one profession or another. The more combat heavy careers will leave you badly at odds earlier on and it becomes necessary to dabble within other certain careers such as mining and industry. Essentially the game is a simulator for the lust of power and wealth, the latter taking precedent in every action you will commit from start to finish and you will learn this lesson from the very beginning.

Having found a star system that offers a number of space stations- all offering numerous trading possibilities as well as a variety of asteroid fields without too much of a dense population, I decided to create my first base of operation. Using the few credits I had, I purchased an extra Civilian Mining Laser and set to work gathering the mineral ore Veldspar- this is a mineral which sells consistently on the market. Although relatively safe, Asteroid Fields can sometimes be prone to random enemies scanning the area and attacking your defenseless Mining Craft- this can interrupt progress and can even mean the departure of the area until it is safe so vigilance must be constant. On the whole the process of gathering the ore, returning back to your station and unloading and repeating the process, is a slow and uneventful one but it is worthwhile and necessary if you wish to progress and gain credit.

As you can see the first steps into Eve Online are purely the laying of foundations. A stable and comfortable starting point must be achieved before heading into the more dangerous and tense elements of the game. The most important foundation of course is the pursuit of ISK and it is a slow going one but it is worthwhile in retrospect. My first week in Eve Online was a tough but relatively safe affair. As I was concerning myself with the quest of credit and equipment I have neglected the more combat side of things and aside from the odd enemy in the Asteroid Belt I have easily side stepped any aggression. This of course will all change as I progress but for now the defensive respite of my location is comforting.

The main objective of your first days in Eve Online will be to persevere with the slow starting and difficult nature of the game. While you will not be whizzing about space, jumping to hyperspace and battling inter-galactic empires; you will be building a virtual life for yourself, gaining the means in which to survive and creating goals for yourself in which to follow. As for me I am just starting in my (mis) adventures of Eve Online. Join me next week as continue to chronicle my experience.